Boys basketball: Streator tops Reed-Custer to clinch outright ICE championship

STREATOR - After clinching a share of the Illinois Central Eight Conference regular-season title the night before, the Streator boys basketball team made sure Saturday night it’d keep it all to itself.

The Bulldogs held three-possession leads a number of times in the final three quarters against visiting Reed-Custer at Pops Dale Gymnasium, but were unable to totally shake the Comets until four free throws by senior Jack Starkey and another by sophomore Christian Benning in the final 32 seconds closed out a 62-55 triumph.

Streator, now 19-7 overall and 13-0 in the ICE with a trip to Braidwood on Tuesday against the same R-C squad up next to finish out the league campaign, clinched the outright conference title — it’s first since winning the Interstate Eight Conference crown in 2015. It was also Streator’s sixth consecutive victory.

Starkey posted 24 points, including 11 in the opening quarter, and four steals for the Bulldogs. Benning popped in 18 points (10 in the fourth), and senior Jack Haynes registering a 14-point, 17-rebound double-double. Senior Cade Stevens gave SHS a solid boost off the bench with four points and six rebounds.

“Winning the conference means a lot to me,” Haynes said. “We’ve really tried our hardest as a team to get this. Two years ago we almost had it, then last year we felt we deserved it, but this feels so great to finally get it. I really wanted this, but so did all my teammates.

“This is a pretty special moment for all of us.”

Streator led 21-16 after the opening quarter, 33-28 at halftime, and after back-to-back drives in the final seconds by Starkey 43-38 heading to the fourth.

“Starkey has been outstanding the past two nights on both ends of the floor, playing all 32 minutes both games,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “I’m just so happy, even though he missed seven games this year, that’s he’s been able to show his ability. Jack [Haynes] has been there for us all year, but especially in the past four games. He’s sees double- and triple-teams almost every night and still finds ways to post double-doubles and help our team win. Christian struggled early on, but really stepped up in the fourth for us.”

Consecutive drives by Benning gave the Bulldogs a 57-49 lead with 48 seconds remaining, but an old-fashioned three-point play by the Comets’ Jace Christian (19 points) and free throw by Connor Esparaza cut the gap to 57-53 just 10 seconds later.

“Streator is really, really tough team to guard. You kind of have to pick your poison,” said R-C coach Mark Porter, his club falling to 13-13 and 4-9. “This game tonight was not too much different than many of our games this season — it was a grind. We’ve had so many games where with two minutes left, we’re either up four or down four. Streator was able to knock down their free throws late, and tonight we were on the short end of the stick. ...

“Congratulations to Streator. Coming into this season, I think they were a team that many thought would be at the top of the standings, and it might be a two- or three-team race. I guess you could say they led from wire to wire, and that’s a hard thing to do in this league.”

From there, Starkey twice sank both ends of the one-and-bonus, and Benning added a swish to help the hosts close things out.

“We targeted Reed-Custer as one of the favorites before this season started and thought this game tonight or the one on Tuesday might be that make-or-break on winning the conference ...” Doty said.

“Winning conference championships are special, because they are so tough to get. You have to have teams where players know and accept their roles, then become MVPs in those roles. This team has done that, and that’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had.

“Now we hope to finish it off and get win No. 20 on Tuesday at their place.”